The girls, all high school students at Notre Dame Academy, Grymes Hill, and St. Joseph Hill Academy, Arrochar, were honored by the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York during a reception and ceremony on June 11 in Manhattan.

“All of Staten Island should be tremendously proud of these girls, whose service projects benefited both young and old in our community,” said Girl Scout Leader Alison Cohen of Troop 5179, which meets at Notre Dame.

Each Girl Scout completed an extensive community service project to qualify for the award. Their projects, which benefited young people and seniors on the North Shore included educating families about eating healthy foods, collecting school supplies for homeless students, and brightening the lives of homebound seniors who receive Meals on Wheels, among others.

For her project, dubbed “The Comfort Zone,” Miss Tedesco helped decorate Project Hospitality’s Hospitality House in St. George. She baked healthy treats for families and children in the shelter, and made sure the youngsters got outside to play and exercise.

Miss Kennedy called her project “Pocket Full of Sunshine.” She collected pocket-size gifts for U.S. soldiers to give to children overseas. She shipped more than 2,000 items overseas. “I was inspired to do this project when I heard that soldiers really enjoy carrying gifts and candy to distributed to children in the villages in Iraq and Afghanistan as a peaceful, friendly offering,” she said.

HELPS HOMELESS

Miss O’Brien designed a “Back to School Backpack” project, collecting and filling backpacks with school supplies that she delivered to North Shore schools. She said the children’s project helped her get through a rough patch at home while her mother was being treated for cancer. “My community service not only helped me help others, but helped me cope personally,” she explained.

Miss Droumbakis worked to expand the food pantry at Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church in Tompkinsville. She created a pamphlet, in English and Spanish, distributed to food pantry families, detailing how they can make healthy food choices. She also provided free blood pressure screening.

“Operation Confidence” was the title of Miss Connors’ project. She taught public speaking skills to clients at Project Hospitality.

Miss Masullo reached out to schools and senior centers to promote I.C.E., the “in care of emergency” feature on cell phones. The programmed code informs all emergency personnel how to contact loved-ones in case of an emergency situation.

Meanwhile, Ms. Cohen helped brighten the day for homebound seniors by creating hand-made crafts, or “tray favors” delivered to Meals on Wheels recipients. “Not only did they get a hot meal, but it brightened their day to receive a thoughtful gift, and it let them know that someone cared,” she said.

Miss Devoti, inspired by her brother, Nick, who has special needs, visited Staten Island schools to speak about the success of special-needs kids in the Special Olympics. “By doing this I was able to show that people with disabilities are not as different as ourselves,” she said.

“Forever Green” was the project that inspired Miss Tornello to recruit Scouts, students and community members to clean up around Mill Pond at Historic Richmond Town. She succeeded in getting the city Parks Department and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) involved.

Finally, in her project, titled Healthy Eating and Active Living (H.E.A.L.), Miss Cirigliano presented a workshop on how exercise and healthy food choices can help reduce childhood obesity.